Ok, I have an opening adventure just about ready to go (maps are done, I've read it over a couple of times) and a couple of players who are making their characters. We'll be using Maptool v1.3b56 which can now be launched directly from their website in Java. I need 3 more players for this opening hopefully single day adventure before we get into a full fledged adventure like last year. I haven't decided on a firm time but I'm thinking sometime on Saturday like before for now, I can't play on weekdays unless it's morning and that takes just about everyone else out.

Use the character creator from the WotC to roll up a 1st level character(it's free you just can't go past lvl 3 or get updates), try to stick to the Players Hanbook 1 & 2 and the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide for a race. For your class choose from the ones in Player's Handbooks 1 & 2, FR, and Dragon issue 375 (Hybrids and Monk) leave out any of the Eberron choices and the upcoming Psion from PHB 3.

I've got interest from Arkon so far so I'll need a couple more people after that and hopfully a small waiting list, if I turn out to be any good at this I can see myself running two games on either different days or alternating weeks.

Arnir, Lockdown, Doopri, AA any of you still around? Destructor from what I can tell isn't sure about being available.

I don't have a firm choice on what voice application we'll be using, we started with Steam last year and it did alright for most of us but there were some problems so we got ourselves a cheap ventrilo server which might be better given that I don't have the most robust ISP in the world. Any thoughts?

I'm interested, but could only show up every other Saturday or so, which I'm guessing rules me out of the campaign But if you ever need someone to fill in for a missing player, or for a one shot, please keep me in mind. I've been DMing a table top game for the past few months and it would be nice to play for a change!

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Sent you a character Rich, a Goliath Warden. It will be a totally new concept for me. I have played D&D quite a bit in the past, and have the 4E core books, but have not had a chance to play 4E so this will be a bit of a learning experience.

Well as it stands now I think we have our group, I want to keep it to 5 players since most adventures are designed for 5 and I probably will have enough trouble keeping that straight. I think we'll go with Jeff, Crux, Arkon, AA and Arnir. I'm sorry to miss out on Destructor but that's a bit late for our east coast players and I know one of them has to work on Sunday mornings, sorry to keep you out as well kadnod. Who knows maybe I can put together a second game later on or hopefully someone else will DM so I can be a player in one. There is a chance I might be available later this year on Friday evenings but it's just rumor right now.

So we have a party of 5 as it stands with 3 character choices made it looks like.

Jeff is playing a Ranger to start with and has him focused on ranged attacks, Crux rolled a rogue but is now considering changing that to a Hybrid Rogue of some sort after seeing the hybrid rules, Arkon has rolled up a big defender to protect the rest of you. This group is still hurting for some healing of some kind, some AoE attack damage could help out as well. I'm not sure what classes other than the Cleric and Paladin offer healing, I haven't really looked at the PHB2 but there has to be something in there if nobody wants to play a Cleric.

And I highly recommend a Cleric (not sure what the PHB2 has offhand) - they can bash things in quite well, as AA let us find out (as well as heal your lives out of danger). She was a Cleric you did NOT want to piss off.

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

I just sent a character creator file for a dragonborn Battle Cleric. I'm open to suggestions for changes. I'll be more than happy to post him here if people want to look at him - if someone can tell me how to convert the character creator file into a different format.

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If the road home crosses any landscape features that include words like "forgotten," "void," "razorthorn," "shadowmist," or "doom," then I vote that we take a nap first.

You guys definately need to post some AAR type summaries for those of us "watching".

I'm not exactly sure how you plan on making any real progress without a Halfling in your party; as we all know they are the backbone to any successful adventure - but I suppose you will just need to make the best of it.

Safe journeys!

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LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

You guys definately need to post some AAR type summaries for those of us "watching".

I'm not exactly sure how you plan on making any real progress without a Halfling in your party; as we all know they are the backbone to any successful adventure - but I suppose you will just need to make the best of it.

Safe journeys!

The last time one of my groups had a halfling in the party, it was an NPC and ended up decapitating the party's dwarf in his sleep... with a dagger. The rest of the party thanked him for it.

More or less off-topic post - whatever happened to the Character Visualizer (the one where you could graphically make your character) over on Wizard's site?

I remember Wizards of the Coast making a sort of "we bit off more than we could chew" announcement a while back, where they stated that some of their previously announced digital products wouldn't be arriving anytime soon. I know the Virtual Tabletop is on hold, and I think the Character Visualizer may be as well.

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I'm not exactly sure how you plan on making any real progress without a Halfling in your party; as we all know they are the backbone to any successful adventure - but I suppose you will just need to make the best of it.

True. You were quite useful to our old party - when you weren't plastering your spells on every available wall and floor, anyway.

And Arnir - does the character creator offer any kind of text based output? I could always look at it that way (even though I'm not playing - I'd like to say I'm decently knowledgeable of the system) if you're curious.

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

I have the Players Handbook 2, but I need to look through to see what sort of character would be a good complement for the rest of the party. My first thought is some sort of Wizard character since we don't have that role filled -- "Controller," I think? -- but since I like support roles the most, Warlord is also a possibility.

It's too bad the psionic classes still haven't been finalized. Rich says we can pick a Monk, but playing a "beta" class could have some erratic results.

Jeff's out (and the ranged striker attack with him) so I need someone else to come back, I'm fine with Destructor's time but that's up to the group if they want to play that late? Otherwise Lockdown, sorry I forgot about you you could join or if we go to an every other week kadnod.

Yeah we need to nail down a time, I'm pretty much ready to go for this Saturday (7-18), I may stumble on some rules I should know but I think I've got the software nailed down with some minor niggles to work out (I can't figure out how to hide the monsters powers from the players) so start throwing out times you all are willing to play at.

Oh, and to be clear this opening adventure is not the main FR adventure I want to play which will be "Scepter Tower of Spellgard", this is just a quick learn the software, refresher course for the players and critique the DM and tell him what he needs to do better adventure. It should only last 1 session or maybe 2 if we go way too slow, which brings me to my second let's be clear point. There isn't any real backstory needed for this first session, I'm going to give you guys a prologue which explains how you got to where you are etc. so don't look for a long "roleplaying" opening to this adventure, there is a tiny bit. During the adventure you guys can choose to work in your back story or not, we can continue with it into the FR adventure or scrap it and let you guys come up with your own story on how you all met etc. also at the end of this short 1 day adventure anyone who isn't happy with their character or you discover the group needs something it doesn't have feel free to create a new character for the FR adventure and just carry over the XP from this character so you won't be behind. Also don't worry about the FR part of your character creation for the first one, I think there are some extra benefits each player gets in FR based on where they come from in the FR setting but I'll be ignoring that part of your characters for the first session, I've got enough on my plate without having to pour over that book this week also .

Hey Arnir a few things to check on getting your character file to me or posted here. When you used the DDI character creator did you save the file by using the button in the creator that says save character or did you open your character sheet and go to file|Save As ? I don't think that should make a difference really.

Ok on showing the info for your character on here. One of the tabs in the DDI Creator says "Summary" when you click on that at the bottom is a button for copy to clipboard. Hit that then just ctrl-v right here in your post and it should look like this: (My old character from our Keep game)

No need to apologize to me, bud. I'm happy sitting out and just reading of your adventures. But if you are ever strapped for players for whatever reason, just let me know. I have at least a dozen Halfling brothers and sisters of Fizzle I could bring along for comic relief while trying to actually roll above a 5 on that d20.

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LD

"Let your enemies fear, for a harlequin of the Laughing God dances at your side."

No need to apologize to me, bud. I'm happy sitting out and just reading of your adventures. But if you are ever strapped for players for whatever reason, just let me know. I have at least a dozen Halfling brothers and sisters of Fizzle I could bring along for comic relief while trying to actually roll above a 5 on that d20.

If we can't fit Destructor's schedule in with the rest of the group I'm hoping we can fit yours in instead, and if you really want to play I can figure out how to expand an adventure for more than 5 players, I just don't know how to do that yet. I think there is a formula for designing encounters in the DM Guide as far as adding and subtracting monsters from encounters.

Gah, another post from me. Arnir, I figured out my/(our?) mistake with your email, there was a download link at the bottom of that 25 page email of info that let me download the character in the right format, for some reason google didn't show it available as an attached file. I've got him now.

Here he is:

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======Gorflon Windborne, level 1Dragonborn, ClericBuild: Battle ClericBackground: Dragonborn - Brush with the Past

So, since we're down our Ranged Striker, it seems I have a slot open if you will. Problem is, I don't know what the Warden is like at all, or even what book he comes from (as it's not the starter book). I can easily bring Rhakos back again (Dragonborn Paladin) for a bit more of a solid tank if needed, or I can make somebody else.

Any thoughts?

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

So, since we're down our Ranged Striker, it seems I have a slot open if you will. Problem is, I don't know what the Warden is like at all, or even what book he comes from (as it's not the starter book). I can easily bring Rhakos back again (Dragonborn Paladin) for a bit more of a solid tank if needed, or I can make somebody else.

Any thoughts?

I enjoyed Rhakos so much that I wanted to try dragonborn this time. If Rhakos comes back, we could be brothers! I wonder if there will be burning hair, this time?

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If the road home crosses any landscape features that include words like "forgotten," "void," "razorthorn," "shadowmist," or "doom," then I vote that we take a nap first.

Just in case anyone is interested in the behind the scenes mod/framework we'll be using with Maptool(you don't need to install anything it'll be ready when you log in) here is a link to the user created framework.

Feel free to install it and learn how to input your own powers and such if you really want to, it wasn't that easy for me to figure out but have zero programming background. I'm getting most of it input but I've run into a few power macro problems here and there.

And I thought they put the Monk into the PH2... No, that's right - they put the Druid, Barbarian, and Bard into the PH2.

Now to end my chattering with this - if the Forgotten Realms book is open for classes, I think I just might go Dragonborn Swordmage. It's a semi-Defender, semi-Range, and lots of Melee power. Any thoughts?

Finally - I have the Character Builder installed. Both of my main PCs are Vista 64, and despite saying otherwise, I can't get it to run even after following the instructions. So it's now on my netbook XP machine.

EDIT: Am I assuming we're using the default 'point buy' option when it comes to the creator program?

« Last Edit: July 15, 2009, 08:46:35 PM by Destructor »

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

I'm macro illiterate but willing to learn. As Destructor said, give us the links and we'll do the rest. We'll, I'll look at it. My ISP is as crappy as it used to be so I get dropped etc randomly but there's nothing I can do about it. But I'm usually back in a minute or two.

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If the road home crosses any landscape features that include words like "forgotten," "void," "razorthorn," "shadowmist," or "doom," then I vote that we take a nap first.

ive noticed in .56 games ive played, where quite a few people are using veggie macros, there seems to be a "memory lag" at times, where people wont be able to see the screen update for quite some time. i never noticed in previous versions of maptool, so im not sure if its .56 thats the problem, or the fact that before .56, not that many people were using things like veggies.

all my evidence is "anecdotal" in that i have no concrete information that theres a problem with veggie or .56, but it just seems like at times the program gets "bogged down" with all the information beings tossed around between multiple tokens. just something you might want to think about if you start to run into a lot of problems

AND now the fun part - have a great time! im currently doing a Sat campaign but ill keep an eye on this thread or any future campaigns you might be doing. i know its going to be a blast to get some of the "old gang" together along with a few new faces! if its not a problem, dont be surprised if i pop in just to lurk during a session, for old times sake

I'm leaning towards playing a Druid. They're Controllers, which is a role our group doesn't have yet, and can take on a support role to help allies and hamstring enemies. I might adjust to a more direct-combat abilities if our final group turns out to be light on Strikers, though.

I used the character creator to sketch out the basics, and I'm going to flip through the book as I polish him up. At the moment, pencil me in for a Razorclaw Shifter Druid with a general focus on ranged crowd control.

And I have a character sent to your e-mail, Rich. Wanted to let you know. I'll take a look at the token/macro stuff sometime before Saturday. Odds are, assuming things haven't changed too much since when we last played, I can get my character macroed out pretty easily.

Here's to hoping that everything goes smoothly for Saturday, including the time when we can all play. If it's too late, please somebody post, so we can try to get somebody else in.

EDIT: A Druid for AA, eh? Sounds like this will be quite the fun party.

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

hehehe yea i should probably do one - i found it over at one of the sites and its been very fun with a nice mix of (rotating) characters. so maybe ill toss up an AAR destructor. i know ill be keeping an eye on this one so its only fair

and aa i actually run a druid! theyre a lot of fun and (at least i think) i have mine nicely fleshed out as a character that really "fits" with his powerset and origin.

and whats everyone else running? destructor are you bringing back rhakos? i saw arkon with the goliath warden (i messed around with one of those in a few "oneshots" - VERY neat character and i can see where theyd be pretty powerful but at higher levels id worry about their ac - i loved rushing up into a large crowd with mine, "hardening my skin" with the power that gives 5 resist ACROSS THE FREAKIN' BOARD, tossing down a field of spikes and then closing it out by marking everyone!).

Just a quick FYI - tokens are pretty easy to modify now for weapon attacks and all that fun jazz. If anybody has any problems, let me know, and I'll try to work it out for ya. My own token is pretty much finished at this point (just gotta hook in one more power and make a spelling pass and it's all good).

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"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."